Music and motoring have long been intrinsically linked, and most of us do the majority of listening to our favorite artists when inside a vehicle. Yet while the right songs make any great road trip, what if any road trip could actually help make the songs? That’s exactly what the Crafted in a Mercedes audio concept proposes to do. Officially announced today, what’s touted as a “mobile creative hub” is the result of a collaboration between Mercedes-Benz, Universal Music Group (UMG), and Dolby Laboratories.

The new integration of technology from all three parties allows musicians and sound engineers alike to connect via laptop to the same software used in UMG’s bleeding-edge recording studios, all while ensconced in a Mercedes-Maybach, with the infotainment screens serving as additional monitors during the mixing process. It’s also a testament to the level of fidelity delivered by the Mercedes-Maybach’s state-of-the-art automotive sound system.

“I’m on my laptop and in Pro Tools. They really have provided for us an opportunity where I plug in my USB and this is the studio now,” says Nick Rives, director of Audio Engineering for UMG, as we sit in the back of a Mercedes-Maybach S 680 on the grounds of UMG’s sonic epicenter in Santa Monica, Calif. “The demands on the modern musician are such that you’re always on the road, you’re always going somewhere . . . if, God forbid, you want to have a life with family, then there need to be trade-offs that take place. And, as and when that happens, things like this give us an opportunity to bridge that gap without meaning that you have to be in the studio all the time.”  

One artist amped up about this groundbreaking setup is Finneas O’Connell, also on hand for the preview. The 28-year-old wunderkind has already garnered numerous Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Award wins, and frequently collaborates with another renowned performer, his sister Billie Eilish. Here, Finneas generously shares with Robb Report some insights into his creative approach, his means of inspiration, and how he sees the Crafted in a Mercedes concept accelerating the process.  

When did you realize that music was going to be your career path?

I knew that it was what I wanted my career path to be when I was 12. When I was 11 or 12, I went and saw Green Day play the Forum and I was like, “oh my God, what a job. That’s unbelievable . . . I want to be in Green Day.” But then I spent my teens trying to learn how to produce music and play as many instruments I could, and so it just got broadened and more broadened to the music world at large—working in studios or producing music or being an artist myself, or working for another artist. I really became more and more focused on just not doing anything outside of music. As long as I was in the music business, I would feel like I succeeded.

Describe your approach to the songwriting process, and how it differs when you’re crafting a song for someone else.

I was trying to write and produce and record everything myself as a 15- or 16-year-old, because I had no other outlets or collaborator. If I heard an album that I loved by Daft Punk, I’d be trying to make music that sounded like that, because I was an admirer of it. If I heard an album by John Prine, I’d be trying to make music like that. And so some of the feedback I would get really early on—whenever I’d find anybody in the music industry and play my music and get opinions—was like, “Oh, this is very eclectic . . . you don’t really have a signature sound of any kind here.” And that has ultimately meant that being a producer [and] collaborator for so many artists is the best gift I could have.

If I want to make a great R&B record, I can try to seek out a great R&B artist and then help them, but they are their own artists, and they’re going to have their own great ideas. So, it’s really been about figuring out, when I put out music under my own name, what feels authentic. You have a stylist [suggesting] that’s a cool jacket, but how does it look on you, is it the right fit, does it match your personality or your attitude? It’s been a process of focusing the magnifying glass on what really feels like an authentic representation of who I am, not only as a person describing their life, but just what’s going to sound like my voice is the right voice for it. How’s it going to feel on me? If I walk out on stage to sing the song, is it the right fit?

Where do you draw inspiration?

The most actively inspired I am is [when] walking. I go on a hike and I’ll listen to an audio book. Sometimes I listen to biographies, sometimes I listen to podcasts, sometimes I listen to an album I’ve loved since I was a child, sometimes I listen to something brand new . . . moving my body, the sun’s going down, I’m listening to something, and I’m just ideating. Most of the ideas I’ve had in the last several years have come from being out on a walk somewhere with my dogs.

When and how did the Crafted in a Mercedes collaboration get on your radar?

[It was] Aron Forbes, who has been a creative partner of mine in many pursuits for the last several years, and specifically has been a mixer for me and Billie—he co-mixed Billie’s last album, Hit Me Hard and Soft. I really trust his ear, and I really trust his understanding of Dolby Atmos. He made me aware that he was tapped by Mercedes to explore and work on this Atmos integration in their car . . . the ability to mix in the car itself. Many devices, right down to your air pods, can represent spatial audio, but it’s very challenging often to actually do a mix on them . . .  the difference between having a pair of speakers and having this mixing console. The fact that the actual car itself you can sit in with your laptop and mix a song in Atmos is very exciting. I was eager to check it out.

How much creativity lies in the sound engineering process, and what elements of that are most important to you?

I’ve never been much of a stickler for specific pieces of gear. I always espouse you don’t need a $10,000 microphone; you don’t need $10,000 speakers; you don’t need expensive pieces of hardware. I’m a real child of the software generation. If I find any sound . . . like, knocking on that desk sounds really interesting, or that bird sounds really interesting, and then, however I’m going to dress that up, if I’m going to take that thing and then distort it, or put a reverb on it of any kind, those sounds become exciting to me because they make me feel something.

In terms of the process of getting there, I think there’s a million roads that lead to something exciting. And then listening to something on a great pair of headphones, listening to it on a great stereo system, listening to it in a car with a great stereo system; I just want everybody to feel as geeked as I do when I make that piece of sound. So that’s the area where I might hope that people are hearing something in a very hi-fi way—just because I’m proud of the time I spent making that sound.

How do you see this Crafted in a Mercedes” concept benefiting you directly?

I’m always trying to expedite and optimize hours in my day, because I never have enough of them. So anything that’ll make me a more effective person, wherever I am, is exciting. Also, I’m a producer for other people, which means I’m in service of other people. [If] they listen to something and they have a note, and if I can take care of it immediately, right where I am, then that’s off my plate. I can just go right out of my car and do it.

What’s the next creative frontier you’re eager to explore, whether musically or elsewhere?

This is, honestly, years away, but I love theater. A great play, a great musical—to me, those are the most moving pieces of entertainment. I’ve seen plays on Broadway that have amazing stage production; I’ve seen black box theater and been equally moved. Being involved in any great piece of theater, in any way—as an actor, as a songwriter, as a composer—is really thrilling to me.